trusting the unconscious

We are not conscious of much. And most of that is self-consciousness (I) which is linked to other-consciousness (not I). This is because man is a social animal who seeks to survive in an often dangerous physical environment. Socially there is consciousness of I, Us and Them. Environmentally there is consciousness of plants and other animals, the landscape and the weather. (See Chart 1)

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But (see Chart 2) most of our mindbrain activity is unconscious and deals with the physiology which we inherited from our vertebrate and invertebrate ancestors. There are the three levels of the brain (hind, middle and fore) dealing with the life processes of nutrition, respiration, excretion etc. There is an enormous amount going on that we are not aware of.

But, on top of that, the unconscious also generates huge amounts of psychological activity small parts of which are mirrored in self consciousness - mainly after the fact.

The structure, function and purpose of self-consciousness remain a mystery. Subjectively we all feel as if ‘I am’. But am I? As a new born baby I was not capable of much but nature, nurture and serendipity ensured that ‘I’ grew up as part of a‘We’ that was  able to deal with the practical side of staying alive (stone axes) and reproducing (chat up lines).

AND, most people, and some much more than others, get concerned about the big picture. They see cause and effect patterns in what happens and they impute agency. There is curiosity which gives rise to myths and magic in the early days and to science and not-science (various flavours) in more recent times.

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There are poets and novelists who are driven by their ‘muse’. When they are writing it is as if they were taking dictation. Their ‘I’ is not in charge. It is as if they were getting something for nothing. But nothing comes from nothing (other than the big bang!). But there is an easy explanation – it is the unconscious what done it!

Self consciousness has evolved so it is reasonable to assume that it is good for something. It may be good for more than just the ordinary thinking that we assume operates in other sentient beings. It seems reasonable to suppose that it is intimately linked to the expansion of the pre-frontal cortex which is linked to the development of language and thus to the ability to communicate about abstract and hypothetical things. It is also likely to be closely implicated in the exponential growth of ‘cultures’ in the last 4000 years.

Both self consciousness and the unconscious were around during my enculturation. Nature, nurture and serendipity taught them as classmates with a common curriculum. SO – it is unreasonable to assume that they are opposing forces. In fact I begin to suspect that there is no such thing as my ‘self’. Note that during the 20th century Freud reckoned that there was only the self which came in three forms (Id Ego Libido). And there was also Skinner the behaviourist who had no time for the unconscious – there were only reflexes.

My late teenage enculturation was as a rational, materialist, empiricist scientist (biological variety). My concerns and doubts about this were captured in a song that I wrote in the early 70s:

“He rationalised his thoughts
About everything he sought
And so he annihilated pleasure.”
(Clark, 197?)

I have no regrets about the way things worked out. But now I am more than 60 years down the never ending highway.

“I move along the never ending highway
Sometimes walking, sometimes rushing,
sometimes running from the crowd
And I see my body walking
and I see my poor mind hoping
And I see the road that never has an end.
(Clark, 1973)

This post was generated by the unconscious muse. ‘I’ did not choose the topic and nor did ‘I’ plan the scope, sequence and pace in advance. The story appeared while I waited for the parcel post to arrive. The postman has now been and gone and I note that the ending is being written.

Thought turns to an old theme of doing v being. I used to practice all do and no be – no time to stand and stare. But I am learning to trust the being. Without rational prodding the unconscious delivers stories on a regular basis – sometimes with charts. Cool.